Performance estimation of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions for sustainable development in Baltic Sea countries

Abstract

This paper argues that many past studies have only been concerned with efficiency and not with the efficiency achievement ratio, whereas information on Baltic Sea countries\' energy or environmental efficiency has always been based on studies that focus on different research objectives, but do not include all the Baltic Sea countries. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the achievement ratios for energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions on both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by including all Baltic Sea countries as a case study and constructing new static and dynamic efficiency indices. The study\'s results show that the 2008 Global Financial Crisis,resulted in low achievement ratios for energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, and the conclusion is that since a lot of attention has been paid to staving off an economic downturn, the Global Financial Crisis may in fact have stalled actions to combat carbon dioxide emissions and energy over-consumption. In addition, the Baltic Sea countries should strengthen energy management on the demand side. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.